1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to billiards, defined herein as any of several games played with hard balls that are driven with a cue on a cloth-covered table enclosed by a cushioned rim. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a device for setting and arranging the balls on the surface of the billiard table for play.
2. Background Information
In playing the game of pocket billiards, the balls are typically arranged on the surface of the billiards table via a frame. For the game commonly known as eight-ball, fifteen balls are placed within an independent triangular frame which is located on the table. The frame is moved on the table until the balls are in a desired spot, and once this has been achieved, the frame is removed, leaving the balls on the table in a specific formation or "rack". The player propels the cue ball toward the rack, with the desired result of separating the balls such that the balls are moved to various locations on the table surface.
The most common formation used in billiards is a triangular arrangement of the balls, but there are various other configurations used by billiards players, for example, a diamond arrangement is used for the game of nine-ball.
As a player's skill increases, the initial break up of the rack may become an opportunity for locating individual balls into definite locations on the table. The ability for such precise performance is dependent on the force and angle of the cue ball's contact with the rack. In order for the player to have such control, it is desired for the balls in the rack to be as close together as possible. The optimal formation of the balls has every ball in direct contact with its neighboring balls.
To make the initial placement of the balls within the frame easier, the frame is usually larger than the total size of the balls placed in formation. The extra room in the frame allows the balls to be easily inserted and allows the frame to be removed with only limited contact with the balls in the rack. As the extra room in the frame does not place the balls in their optimum proximity, the player's fingers are often used to tighten the formation, either by inserting the player's fingers into the frame between the frame and the balls or, if the frame is flexible, by squeezing the frame.
One problem with using a simple frame arises when players use their fingers to tighten the ball formation by touching the balls directly. When there is contact between skin and the ball formation, such contact rarely separates without a certain amount of adhesion. This adhesion has a tendency to separate the balls in the formation, preventing a tight formation from occurring. The dirtier the player's hands, the greater the adhesion factor becomes. In general, it is desired that the player not touch the balls in the formation.
Another problem which has arisen in the use of the existing frames occurs when the frame is removed from the ball formation. Until the frame has been completely removed from the formation, there exists the possibility that the player, in lifting the frame, may move the frame such that there is unplanned and undesired contact with one or more balls. Examples of such unplanned contact would occur when the player lifts the frame unevenly and one or more balls are dislodged from the tight formation created within the frame. Such contact loosens the formation, sometimes to the extent that the frame must be replaced down on the table to rack the balls again.